Entries by Sandy Styer

If your customers and clients tell you they don’t trust you, things have gotten bad. But you could have seen it coming. There were many early-warning signs of low trust in your organization. This is the last in a series of five. The other posts address warning signs of low-trust organizations coming from: Employees Teams […]

Are you part of a low-trust organization? There are a surprising number of symptoms and tip-offs; perhaps the least obvious are in the organization’s products and services. This is fourth in a series of five. The other posts address warning signs from: Employees Teams Leadership Products and Services (this blogpost) Clients and Customers Product/Service Warning […]

Low-trust organizations can be spotted in many ways. This is third in a series of five. In this one, we explore warning signs from leadership. Previous and future posts address warning signs from: Employees Teams Leadership (today’s post) Products and Services Clients and Customers Leadership Warning Signs of a Low-Trust Organization Look at the leadership […]

It’s not impossible to find a high-trust team in a low-trust organization – we’ve seen a few – but not too many. For the most part, low-trust organizations are made up of low-trust teams. This is the second in a series of five, totaling 25 warnings signs in: Employees (first post) Teams (today’s post) Leadership […]

Low-trust organizations are petri dishes for low growth, profitability, and ultimately survival. Yet the signals are easy to ignore. The canaries in the low-trust coal mine fall into five groups: we’ll devote one blog post to each of: Employees (today’s post) Teams Leadership Products and Services Clients and Customers Employee Warning Signs of a Low-Trust […]

“Intimacy” belongs in business. Yes, intimacy. Not the kind that was the subject of classic ‘40s movies, but the kind that is essential to building trust. The Trust Equation The Trust Equation is familiar to many of you, both regular and even occasional readers of this blog. It’s a formula for measuring our own trustworthiness […]

I confess: I’m not one to read directions. Ever. But while hanging a mirror recently I happened to glance at the instructions on the back of the OOK package for picture wire (Will not fray! Will not rust!). I saw the best instructions ever: Use Common Sense when hanging your pictures. So simple. So elegant. […]

A doctor, a lawyer and a rabbi all walk into a bar. The bartender says: “What is this, some kind of joke?’” Notice: It’s never a manufacturer, a schoolteacher and a dancer who walk into the bar and serve as setup-lines for our jokes. Instead, it’s those who should be our most trusted advisors: doctors, […]

We’re shining a spotlight on Trust Temperaments™ in our team over the next few months. Recently, I wrote about the six different temperaments we’ve identified in our research. Today, experience the temperaments in action through a conversation between a Catalyst and a Connector—our very own Charles H. Green and Andrea P. Howe.Listen in as they […]

Are you an ENTJ? An ISFP? An Aries or a Pisces? You may know your Myers Briggs Type Indicator, and you no doubt know your birthday–but what about your Trust Temperament™? How do you go about building a trustworthy relationship with another person? Our research has identified six different Trust Temperaments™, or preferences, describing how […]

Recent Blog Posts

How do you open a sales call? Do you strive to establish credibility? Thought leadership? Make a positive first impression? Establish trust rapidly? There are lots of answers to that question, and I’m going to suggest most of them are sub-optimal. And, I’m going to suggest, there is one single Best Practice way to do […]

When you offend someone, someone is offended. That seems obviously, trivially true. But the two are very different events – each touching on a part of the human experience, and each teaching us something about trust. The Social and the Psychological Disrespecting someone is a social violation: it is not a nice thing to do. […]